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“And instead, you’ll end up eating through a straw for the rest of your life if you don’t walk away. We do not fuck with families, and you just tried to take his queen. Move along.”
Jay slams his tall friend back with a rough shove and pushes through the hall into the back room. Something crashes against the concrete floor. Something else crashes. Then with a grunt, he comes back to us with a large tool case type box and tosses a thirty-thousand-dollar prototype at my feet. Bits of plastic and metal snap from the case and rain all over the floor. Sharp corners nick my legs, but Jay remains strong, grabs his Sophia, and pulls her under his arm. “We don’t fuck with families. An hour ago, I’d have squealed like a girl if I knew you were coming here. I’ve got a hard on for brains and ingenuity. You ask anyone around here, and they’ll tell you I was a fan. But then you try to take the only person I live for. Now you walk away having gained an enemy, and it’s never a smart move to anger a Bishop.” He waves to the door. “Leave. Don’t come back.”
I’m not entirely sure what I expected to gain by coming here today, except, perhaps, to prove that my identity remains hidden. I’ve put a smear on Griffin today, but they have no clue I’m a Bishop too. They say family is sacred, but they have no idea that biologically, we are one. The brotherhood they share, the kind I’ve never known, as Kane once again steps in front of his brother, spikes my anger.
Fuck.
I leave my system on the floor and walk out the way I came. Through the doors, along a footpath, over the sidewalk, and then I tear my door open and slide into my car.
Slamming the door again, I smash my hand down over the steering wheel until something deep in the steering column cracks. My mom’s head slamming against Colum’s desk plays in my mind. Over and over and over again.Run! She was being hurt, she was being raped by those mongrels’ father. The last thing she ever knew was pain, then darkness as her brain spilled out onto the desk, and her son was sent running for his life.
I was willing to stay away, to stay in my building seven hours away, but then I had to find money that doesn’t belong to them. I had to meet them, and within seconds, they had to throw my mom in my face.
Why did we have to go to the club that day? I slam my hand on the steering wheel again.Why did it have to go down that way? “Fuck!”
“Griffin!” Sophia runs around the side of the building as though she came from the garage out back. Frowning, I watch her sprint and cast glances back to the front doors as though afraid those inside might run out and grab her.
She jogs to my side of the car and waits as I wind my window down. “Dinner at seven.” She tosses a business card through the window so it lands on my lap. “I wanna hear what you have to say. No man controls me, and I know you’re smart. This is a small-ass town, and sometimes the lack of anything except cousins fucking cousins bores me.”
She’s their weak link. This is exactly why they were keeping her under wraps. Sophia Solomon, the leggy dancer, will be the Bishops’ downfall.
“188?”
She nods and turns away with a grin. “Seven o’clock. I’ll dress up.”
I watch her walk away and reenter the building via the way she came. I wait a moment, as an odd sense of responsibility washes over me.
If she’s caught talking to me, will they hurt her?
Will they blow up?
More importantly, why the fuck do I care?
She’s a dancer whose ballet studio is the laundry for dirty money. After meeting her and the Bishops, a part of me wonders if they use her as a front. Legitimate dance school and a pretty airhead, send their money through her, bring it out the other side shiny and clean, and should they ever be caught, Sophia Solomon is the only name attached to that business; she’s the only person who will go down.
Maybe she’s not his queen at all, but his fucking goat.
And now I care.
Shaking my head, I switch the ignition on and pull out of the parking space. Passing Checkmate’s front doors, I catch sight of Kane Bishop standing behind them with his arms folded and his eyes trained on the side of my face.
I don’t look. I give no indication that I see him. I move along, just as ordered, and at six thirty that evening, I dress in my business best and secure the cufflinks on my shirt.
Libby is off-shift, she’s at home, tucked away safe for the evening, and I’m going to dinner with the wrong woman. It feels wrong to take advantage of Sophia in a similar way that the Bishops are taking advantage. Maybe it’s the blood that runs through our veins, or maybe she’s just the handiest chink in everyone’s armor.
Whatever it is, I’m going to exploit it.
I’m sorry, Sophia Solomon, but your piece needs to be removed from the chessboard that rules our lives.
